Rotary engine.



PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

W. R. DAWE. ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24. 1906.

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PATENTED; MAY 29, 1906.

w. R. DAWE. 110mm ENGINE.

APPLICATION FLLED 35.11.24. 1908.

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ROTARY ENGINE. AIPLIOATION FILEDJAN. 24. 1903.

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PATBNTBD MAY 29, 1906.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1906.

Application filed January 24, 1906. Serial No. 297,657.

To (I/ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM ROGER. DAWE, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 212 Barnsley road, Shefl'ield, in the county of York, England, have inven ed new and useful Improvements in Rotary ngines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a rotary engine which may be actuated by steam or. other suitable elastic fluid.

Referring tothe accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention Figure l is a section on the line A A A A of Fig. 2 of a single-acting engine constructed in one convenient form according to my invention. Fig. 2 is across-section on the line B B of Fig. 1. Fi 3 is a vertical section taken on the line C E F G H of Fig. 4 of a modified form of engine which is double acting. Fig. 4 is as regards its ifipper part a secig. 3 and as regards its lower part a side elevation of the engine with part: of the casing removed. Figs. 5 and 6 are res ectively front'and side elevations of a den le-acting engine constructed according to my invention,-showing the mechanism for varying the point of cutoff and reversing.

Referring, in the first place, to Figs: 1 and a 2, a is a casing of cylindrical form. This caswhich engage the pistons e.

ing is rovided with bearings b b for a shaft 0, on which is secureda drurnd, which is preferably hollow. This drum carries a number of istons efour irfnumber in-the present case.

he drum carries between the pistons a number of teeth f. These teeth gear with teeth 9', formed on a cylindrical valve h, whose axis is 1parallel to the axis of the shaft 0. The va ve h is provided with recesses y", with The pistons e, in fact, act as large teeth. Arranged in the interior of the valve h and coaxial With it is a tube m, which acts as anauxiliary valve, and this tube is provided at its ends with ports n n, which when the tube is in a certain angu lar' position put the interior of the tube in communication with the annular spaces 0 0.

These annular spaces are su plied with live steam by meansof the forke pipe p and the passages g g. The tube is also provided with a port 7", and the valve h is provided with two ports 8 s. Each of these ports 8 is adapted when the main valve is in a certain posit-ion relatively to the tubular valve m to allow steam to pass from the interior of the tube m to one of the recesses In the position of the pants shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the port 7" is coming into line with one of the ports 8. The

steam is about to pass into one of the recesses y', 'when it will exert its force on one side of the piston e and urge this piston forward in the direction of the arrow. The rotation "of the drum d rotates the valve it, due to the in termeshing of the teeth, and when the piston e has moved forward a certain prearranged distance the port 8 moves out of line with the port 1" and steam is cut off. The steam then expands in the s ace behind the piston e until a predetermine point is reached. The casing a is provided with a liner t, which extends about two-thirds of .the way round the casing in the inside thereof. A space ,is left between the casing and its liner, and the exhaust-pipe communicates with this space.

tion of the exhaust-pipe. When any piston 6 reaches the end of the liner at c, the

steam contained behind the piston is liberated and passes to exhaust. Either be fore this or just after this event steam is allowed-to act on the succeeding piston. The valves 11) w are relief-valves. Only one of these is opened at one time. This de pends on the-direction in which the drum is rotating. It will be seen that when the pistons are rising on the left side of the drum,

as'seen in Fig. 2, steam at exhaust-pressure is trapped in the space cc, and as the piston behind it rises this steam would be compressed but for the fact that the relief-valve w is provided to relieve the pressure. The left-hand valve in Fig. 2 is opened when the drum is rotating in the direction of the arrow. When the engine is areversing one, a reliefvalve is rovided at the other side of the easing, as shown in Fig. 2. Hand-Wheels 'y are provided for operating the valves. The speed of the-engine can be automatically controlled by causlng a overnor to give an axial movement to the tu ular valve m. In Fig. i the governor 2 acts on the tubular valve m through the agency of the lever 3, which is fulcrumed at 4 to a bracket 5, carried by the casing. An increase in the speed of the engine causes an axial movement to be given to the tubular valve m, so as to put ,the'ports it partly out of coincidence with the charm bers o 0, so as to throttle the steam entering the tubular valve m; A decrease in the speed of the engine gives an axialmovement to the tubular valve m in the opposite direction, so as to increase the openings for the passage of steam. Besides the teeth and the pistons c, which act as teeth, I may and preferably do provide the drum with two extra sets of teeth, one set on each end of the drum. In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 I attach annular plates 6 and 7 rigidly to the ends of the drum, and I provide these annular plates with teeth 8 and 9, which gear with teeth formed on the main valve -It. The teeth on the main valve 71, which gear with the teeth 8 and 9, are preferably not formed integral with the body of the valve h, but are attached thereto. In the design shown in Figs. 1 and 2 these side teeth are cut on the plates 11 and 12', which are attached to the ends of themain valve h, and these plates 1 1 and 12 are provided with tubular extensions 13 14, which surround the reduced ends of the valve h. The teeth 8 and 9 are preferably set, respectively, one-third of a pitch and two-thirds of a pitch in advance of the teeth f. This is done with a view to obtaining smooth running. Imay, if desired, provide the pistons c with removable ends 15, as shown in the case of one piston in Fig. 2.

These removable ends can be replaced by others when they get worn. I may, if desired, cut grooves in the removable or fixed ends of the pistons, as shown in the case of the removable end 15 of one of the pistons shown in Fig. 2, the grooves being indicated by the numeral 16. These grooves tend to prevent the escape of steam past the end of the piston. I may, if desired, so arrange the liner t with respect to the casing a that a pas sage or jacket 17 extends not only round the greater part of the drum d, but also round the main valve h. This jacket serves to lessen the radiation of heat from the working parts and also tends to lessen the transmission of noise and vibration from the working parts.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, a doubleacting engine is here shown. There are two valves h h, one'arranged at the top of the easing and the other at the bottom of the easing, and there are nine pistons. Each valve has three recesses j, and each valve makes three revolutions forone revolution of the drum d. Each recess-is provided with a supply-port s, as in the single-acting form of my invention just described. The end teeth 8 and 9 in this case areinade helical and are arranged right and left handed, respectively. Both the tubular auxiliary valves are adapted to be acted on at the same time by the governor through the agency of the two levers 3 3. In other respects this form of my invention resembles that before described.

)I may have more than two main valves 72., if

desired. If I employ two, they may either one'atthe bottom, or one at each side of the casing at-equal heights, or otherwise as may 'be equally spaced around the casing.

Referring now to Figs. 5 and 6, a valvecontrollmg mechanism is here shown. A lever 21 is pivoted at 22'on a fixed shaft 20,

carried by'tlie casing. The lower end of the lever has pivoted to it two links 23 23, each of which is pivoted at its other end to an arm 24, which engages with the squared end 25 of arod 26, which is either formed integral with or rigidly attached to the auxiliary tubular-valve m. (Shown in Fi s. 1 to 4.) The rod 26 is free to move axially through the arm 24 and through the fixed bracket 27, which serves as a fulcrum for the arm 24. In the engine shown in Figs. 5 and 6 there are two main valves, and therefore two auxiliary valves. Steam is conveyed to the auxiliary valves m by means of two forked pipes p, 'of which only one can be seen. pipes are the same as those shown in Figs. 1

These forked.

to 4. When only one main valve is employed,

then only one link 23 is necessary, and when more than two main valves are employed then more than two links are required. will be obvious that in all cases all the valves can -be controlled from one lever 21. The lever 21 by altering the angular position of the auxiliary valves m alters the points in the rotation of the main valves h, at which steam can pass to the recesses This allows the cut-off tobc varied and the direction of rotation of the engine to be reversed. The thumb-screw 27 allows the lever 21 to be locked in any required position.

I may employ two or more engines constructed according to my invention in series, so as to form a compound engine, steam exhausting'fromthe first engine passing to the next in succession, and so on.

Engines constructedaecording to my invention allow a very high power to be obtained in a machine of relatively-small bulk and allow of reversing being' accomplished with ease.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In. rotar engines in which a drum carrying a lura ity of pistons rotates within a casing, t e combination with a steam-admission and cut-off valve geared directl to the said rotating drum, of an auxiliary va ve situated within the said admission and cut-ofi valve, which auxiliary valveis adjustable ax1- ally for the purpose of regulating the amount of steam sup lied to-the engine and is adjustable angular y for the purpose of regulating the point of cut-01f, substantially as dedrum, a tubular steam-admission and cut-off valve provided with a plurality of central ports adaptedto admit steam to act on said pistons, an auxiliary tubular valve situated within the said steam-admission and cut-0H valve and provided with ports at its ends and means for adjusting the said auxiliary valve both axially and angularly, substantially as described. I v

3'. In rotary engines in which a drum carrying a plurality of pistons rotates within a casing, the combination with a steam-admission and cut-off valve of an auxiliary valve,

" ports provided in said auxiliary valve, re

cesses provided round said ports for supplying steam thereto, a governor acting on said auxiliary valve to move said ports out of coincidence with said recesses and so regulate the amount ofsteam supplied to the engine, substantially as described.

g 4. In rotar engines in which a drum car-- ryingJa plura ity-of pistons is mounted on a shaft and rotates within a casing, the eombination with a steam-admission and cut-off valve of an auxiliary valve situated within the said steam-admission and cut-ofi valve and of a centrifugal governor mounted on the aforesaid shaft and adapted to give an axial movement to the said auxiliary valve,

substantially'as described.

'5. In rotary engines, in combination, a casing, a drum ada ted to rotate within the casing, three sets 0 teeth and a plurality of -WILLIAM ROGER DAWE. Witnessesr.

, WILLIAM MABE,

WALTER EDWARDS 

